Leave it to the Breeze

Last Tuesday I had a pretty great appointment with Doctor Rachel–well as great as an appointment can be when you have stage 4 terminal cancer and you are at Cancer House. Rachel is staying the course of no treatment for the moment because she believes the Pembro is still working in my immune system to root out the bastard cancer. She told me this was the window of opportunity to go on vacation–don’t have to ask me twice–and we will do Pet Scans when I get back. I can live with that. Tim Blanket is the one who really needs a vacation after 4 months of hands on taking care of me while working full-time. I haven’t gained any weight yet but I am much stronger from all the Physical Therapy I have been receiving and lots of walking. I was contemplating all of this as I exited the parking garage and my favorite song came on the radio. We all know how much I love James Bay but today his words really resonated with me—“everything that’s broke, leave it to the breeze, let the ashes fall where they may, let it be.” I am on a course that I have no control over. However, what I’m not going to let go of is trying to raise and donate as much money as I possibly can to metastatic breast cancer research to turn this into a chronic disease, not a deadly one, so my kids and your kids won’t have to deal with this. Of course I can’t do this alone and serendipity stepped in.

Thursday night I was at a reception for Governor Charlie Baker at the Marcus home. Stephen kindly said lots of nice things about me in his opening comments, telling Charlie I have a death sentence and inviting me to take a picture. I told Charlie about my story and the clinical trial I had just been in that nearly killed me. I guess he liked me–he addressed his opening remarks to me, telling me to never quit (like I would?) and then circled back to ask about the fund-raiser we were having Saturday at the seaport. He said he would try to make it. Conveniently I was interviewed the next day by WBZ radio and my story was in the local papers while DJ Pup Dawg heavily promoted Bootys for the Battle on the radio. (Obviously I have a great publicist in Elizabeth Brabants Fragala).

Shockingly, it all came together (through a lot of hard work by little coconut and the Brabants and Marcus families). Saturday was an incredible day at the Seaport World Trade Center. Over 125 girls signed up to take a Bootys by Brabants class, there were raffles, silent auctions, balloon pops, and of course, drinks and food. Lots of guy friends too! It was amazing and Governor Baker came along with guest DJ PUP Dawg and MC Dion Lewis of the Patriots. They wanted to talk to everyone and were willing to sign stuff and take pictures, so graciously. Even the governor wanted a selfie with Dion!! He left happily hugging a signed football and some Booty pants for his daughter. The after party continued at the Whiskey Priest–just lots and lots of fun, even Dion came. The result: $30,000 for Metavivor.org to fund research grants for MBC. I am very happily exhausted.

On the home front, the coconuts have split up. Kelsey and her boyfriend Evan have moved into a beautiful apartment in Quincy where she can cross the street to the red line straight to Mass General. Bridget is acquiring a new roommate next month!!!! Yay!!! No more calling me to complain about each other. FYI–Bridget was home the other day so I took the opportunity to climb up on a kitchen chair to look for something. She snapped a picture and secretly sent it to Tim saying “this is what she does when she’s home alone.”

All I can say is it was a long, magical, special week. Leaving something to the breeze never felt so good. Now it’s on to Aruba for 9 days under a palapa with some books and naps. People keep asking me if I can still snorkel? I certainly hope so! Snorkeling doesn’t involve much balance, I can float and my heart rate tends to slow down in the water. Guess we are going to find out!

My love to you all and the generous, crazy support! It takes more that a village. Could not do any of it without you!❤️✨❤️✨